French female politician knocked UNCONSCIOUS in Paris street after a male protester flung campaign leaflets in her face
A LEADING female French politician was in hospital today after "a cowardly and intolerable" assault by a man that left her lying on the ground unconscious in a Paris marketplace.
Horrifying pictures show Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a 44-year-old mother of two, knocked out cold in the French capital’s 5th arrondissement.
She hit her head on the ground after an unidentified shaven-headed man in his 50s threw her leaflets in her face and jabbed his finger at her.
It is believed she fell back because she was expecting an attack.
It was a few minutes before she regained consciousness and paramedics treated her at the scene.
She was then taken to hospital, where her condition was later described as stable.
Meanwhile, the assailant ran off and was last seen disappearing into the Paris underground Metro train system.
The man reportedly called her a "dirty bobo" – a French word for a young aspiring professional with liberal views from the words bohemian and bourgeoisie.
The man also made a reference to Paris’s Socialist mayor, saying: "It’s your fault we have Hidalgo as mayor."
Ms Hidalgo later called the assault "cowardly and intolerable", and called for everything to be done to bring the man to justice.
France’s Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, also spoke out against "this unacceptable act of violence".
Kosciusko-Morizet, known as NKM in France, is in fact a conservative and was out campaigning for the Republicans party in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
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The attacker said NKM should "go back to the Essonne" – the department to the south of Paris where she used to be an MP.
She is now standing to re-enter parliament in Paris itself, following two-round elections which end on Sunday.
NKM’s grandfather, Jacques Kosciusko, was a French Resistance hero, and a former ambassador to the USA.
She was first elected to the National Assembly at the age of only 29, and at one stage was the official spokesman for former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also appointed her Ecology Minister between 2010 and 2012.
A spokesman for Paris prosecutors said a criminal enquiry had been opened into the incident, and that the hunt for the assailant was continuing.
A year ago British politician Jo Cox was murdered in broad daylight by Nazi-obsessed loner Thomas Mair.
The Labour MP for Batley and Spen who was stabbed and shot a week before the EU referendum.
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